2018 Pride Mountain Vineyards Chardonnay Napa Valley 750 ml

Throngs of wine lovers ascend Spring Mountain to Pride Mountain Vineyards to partake in 100-point winemaker Sally Johnson’s iconic red wines. They come down as newly minted fanatics of Pride’s tiny-production Chardonnay—and signed up for the wine club that claims 80% of it. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the world fights over the remaining 300 cases that aren’t reserved for destination restaurants like Napa’s Michelin three-star The French Laundry or The Restaurant at Meadowood, or the Flagstaff House in Boulder, Colorado.   

That’s why we’re thrilled that our Master Sommelier Sur Lucero’s deep Napa ties have landed us share of the 2018, a California classic that Vinous’ Antonio Galloni summed up succinctly: “Pride Chardonnay is gorgeous.” 

For fans of classic California Chardonnays, this is a must-buy bottle to put beside your Far Nientes, your Shafers, your exemplars of the lush California style. We’re stoked to have it, straight from Pride, at just $45. 

Yellow-gold at the core with silver reflections throughout, the nose is clean, fresh, and lively, with notes of sliced yellow and green apple, Bosc pear, and lemon blossoms. The palate is rich yet sleek, with a fantastic sense of wet rock, polished steel, and honeysuckle. Striking the perfect balance of decadence and restraint, the wine grows more and more seductive as it spends time in the glass. 

Our Master Sommelier Sur Lucero has known Pride’s Director of National Sales Yohannah Burmeister since they took the Advanced Sommelier exam together over a decade ago, and as we inhaled the tropical and citrus aromas, she filled us in on the history of Pride Chardonnay. 

In the early days of the winery, the Chardonnay was all estate-grown atop Spring Mountain, like Pride’s other wines. But as the warming climate lent itself more and more to the Bordeaux varieties, Pride’s subsequent replantings focused on red grapes, and the winery looked down the mountain for stellar sites that would allow them to continue the Chardonnay style that had, in just a few years, won so many fans. 

Since the Pride property is located on the border of Napa and Sonoma counties (and the reds are always labeled as such), the winery was not limited to Napa Valley, so they turned to some of the greatest Chardonnay-growing areas of Northern California. A bit of the 2018 still comes from the estate, but the majority comes from two stellar sites in Carneros, one in the Napa Chardonnay hotbed of Oak Knoll, and the other in Russian River Valley. 

Since her tenure, 100-point winemaker and 13-year Pride veteran Sally Johnson has set the course by refining and invigorating the full-throttle style that original winemaker Robert Foley had pioneered, reflecting how Pride’s white wine palate has evolved. But Pride Chardonnay is still lush and unmistakably Californian, earning creamy notes by going through 50% malolactic conversion, and taking on a beautiful texture from time in neutral oak.  

As Yohannah told us, “Chardonnay is your quintessential blank slate: Whatever you do to it, wherever it's grown, however it’s made, that’s what defines the wine. And everybody has their interpretation,” she said. As she poured a little bit more, she added: “And our interpretation is deliciousness.” 

Pride is a Napa Valley icon, whose Spring Mountain site has grown grapes for more than a century. Founders Jim and Carolyn Pride first planned to sell their grapes to other vintners, as Robert Mondavi had purchased fruit from the site’s previous owners for years. But they soon decided to make their own wine, bottling their first vintage in 1991. Within a few years, Pride was racking up 98- and 99-point scores from Robert Parker, who said “these wines catapult Pride Mountain into the top echelon of California's quality wineries.” 

As the low-supply, high-demand Chardonnay proves, Pride—a regular on magazine covers and Top 100 lists—is still right there at the top, and there’s no grape they can’t elevate. One sip of the 2018 Chardonnay and you’ll agree.